The Art of Lean Filmmaking: An unconventional guide to creating independent feature films

By Kylie Eddy and David Eddy

Lean Filmmaking is an explosion of creativity, turning conventional wisdom upside down to vigorously shake out obsolete ideas revered by the traditional film industry.

Writing a script. Pitching to investors. Surviving development hell. Before even picking up a camera. All while juggling a family, a social life and a day j

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lean Filmmaking
• Release date: Jun 30, 2021
• ISBN: 9780645200713

Book preview

First published by Lean Filmmaking in 2021.

Copyright © 2021 Kylie Eddy and David Eddy. All rights reserved.

Feel free to take passages from this book and replicate them online or in print, but link back to leanfilmmaking.com. If you want to use more than a few paragraphs, email [e-mail].

A catalogue record of this book is available from the National Library of Australia.

Editor: Irene Kalpakas

Cover Design: The Who Photography & Design

ISBN: 9780645200706 (paperback)

ISBN: 9780645200713 (ebook)

leanfilmmaking.com

Disclaimer: the information in this book is designed to provide helpful guidance on the subjects discussed and isn’t a substitute for professional financial, legal, occupational health and safety or any other advice. The authors disclaim any liability to any person arising directly or indirectly from the use of, or for any errors in or omissions from, the information contained in this book. The adoption and application of the information in this book is at the reader’s discretion and is their sole responsibility.

Contents

Introduction: A new way to make films with creativity at its heart

Part 1: Core Values

The Lean Filmmaking Philosophy

Collaboration is key

Fan focused first

Story before production values

Learn by doing

Make-Show-Adjust Cycles

Values can transform creativity

What you need to start (and it isn’t money)

Part 2: Step by Step Guide

The Lean Filmmaking Method

Step 1: Form Squad

Start with a squad, not a script

Recruit for skills, not roles

Choose the minimum viable squad

Align squad goals

A squad needs transparency and moxie

You’re done with this step when…

Step 2: Discover Fans

Let’s talk about talking to fans

Start with a spark

Conduct research interviews

Draft a fan experience

Make tester videos

You’re done with this step when…

Step 3: Develop Drafts

Ceremonies empower the squad

Restructure work by overlapping activities

Delay decisions with just-in-time production

Construct the Story Scaffold

Run full-film draft Make-Show-Adjust Cycles

You’re done with this step when…

Step 4: Produce Polishes

Ask fans to pay for it

Scale the squad (but only if you really need to)

Prioritize with the Impact-vs-Difficulty Matrix

Run full-film polish Make-Show-Adjust Cycles

You’re done with this step when…

Step 5: Launch Film

Stop obsessing about film festivals

Demystify self-distribution

Run marketing and sales experiments

Release the film

It’s out, now what?

You’re really done when…

Conclusion

Glossary

About Lean Filmmaking

Acknowledgments

Introduction: A new way to make films with creativity at its heart

It’s hard to make an independent feature film.

You need to plan everything down to the last detail, have all the right gear and be able to deliver high production values on a low budget. You’ve worked on your passion project for years: writing the script, pitching to producers, networking with talent, all while juggling family, friends and probably a full-time job.

You’ve only got one chance to make your first feature film so it’s got to be perfect.

Your reputation, life savings and future career are all on the line.

Fuck that.

Conventional filmmaking methods not only hinder creativity but also waste massive amounts of time, money and energy, often on things that aren’t important to an audience.

In the last few decades, technology has dramatically changed filmmaking. The end-to-end production process has been compressed, equipment is more affordable than ever and online distribution gives filmmakers direct access to audiences.

But despite this rapid progress in technology, filmmaking is still an inherently risky business filled with uncertainty.

Lean Filmmaking is the result of more than five years spent experimenting, testing and re-imagining a new way to make films with creativity at its heart.

We began questioning traditional filmmaking models after producing our own independent feature film. The entire process felt grueling, frustrating and demoralizing.

We wanted to find another way.

Inspired by lean manufacturing, lean startups, design thinking and agile software development, we challenged ourselves to look at every aspect of filmmaking from a fresh perspective.

We also reached out to other filmmakers to see if they struggled with the same issues.

Turns out we weren’t alone.

We ran meetups to test ideas and got feedback from actors, writers, directors, cinematographers, editors, producers and creatives from all walks of life. We talked to thousands of filmmakers and conducted over sixty one-on-one interviews.

Based on this research we developed some surprising, often counterintuitive, strategies to dramatically improve the filmmaking process, including:

× Collaborating in non-hierarchical, cross-functional squads

× Working in ongoing iterative Make-Show-Adjust Cycles

× Validating assumptions with early fan feedback

We’ve distilled what we’ve learned so far into this book so you can put it into action too.

A little bit about us

We’re Kylie Eddy (a writer, director and producer) and David Eddy (a software developer and agile coach).

Yup, we’re also siblings.

We’ve combined our skills to create Lean Filmmaking.

Our goal is to provide an alternative pathway for filmmakers to make their independent feature films and build sustainable creative careers.

We want to lower the barriers of entry so filmmaking is accessible to everyone, especially for those people who are underrepresented in the industry, and encourage more diverse storytelling on screen.

We began applying lean and agile principles to the development, production, marketing and distribution of films in 2011. What started as a small experiment grew into the largest filmmaking Meetup group in Australia at the time, with over 2,700 members.

Since then we’ve produced over fifty events that include everything from filmmaking workshops where everyone makes a short video in an hour, through to an accelerator program with squads who developed micro-budget feature films in fifteen weeks.

The film that sparked Lean Filmmaking

In 2007, Kylie wrote, directed and produced a micro-budget independent feature film for $22,000.

It almost killed her.

Despite doing everything right by traditional filmmaking standards, her film failed.

Before attempting to make a feature film, she spent years studying media and screenwriting at university, worked in marketing for a major distributor (and managed a video store when that was still a thing), went to every seminar and read all the books. She’d also written and directed a couple of successful short films.

Despite all of this, she spent four years trying to get her debut feature film funded.

Kylie wrote many, many drafts of the script, submitted it for grants, hawked it to experienced producers, and networked her ass off. All of this was around her day job, because obviously she still had to pay the rent.

Finally she raised the money herself through private investment from some very generous individual supporters (before crowdfunding existed).

She did this during four months of pre-production.

The film was shot in rural Australia over thirteen days with two actors and a crew of eleven.

Then she spent four months in hellish post-production.

After years of hard slog, the film played at some well-regarded niche international festivals and had a limited DVD release in North America.

Before disappearing into obscurity.

It never made a cent.

While it was an incredible learning experience and massive personal achievement, Kylie was broken – physically, emotionally and financially.

After working towards this dream for over fifteen years, now that it was done she never wanted to make a film again.

Around the same time, David was managing an agile team to develop software and was already seeing the benefits of working in this new way. After listening to his sister’s struggles, he realized the process of making films was much like the old waterfall model of software development.

David thought it would be interesting to try an experiment: apply agile principles to filmmaking.

Kylie thought this sounded like bullshit.

After years of investing in traditional filmmaking theory, there was so much to unlearn – but with David’s expertise in agile coaching, and relentless optimism that it could work, she gradually came around.

Especially when she started seeing results that were impossible to ignore.

At the beginning we started small.

In the first instance we asked, will ten filmmakers attend an event about this concept we called Lean Filmmaking?

Yes, they would.

Are they interested enough to come back and maybe bring a friend?

Honestly, most people thought we were deluded! But a small passionate group emerged and they wanted more.

Then it snowballed into hosting fortnightly meetups to test our new ideas.

After several months of theoretical debates, we were ready for a practical experiment.

We produced the Filmmakathon, loosely based on the structure of a tech hackathon, specifically designed for filmmakers to learn about Lean Filmmaking. Over a weekend, two squads each made a short film. That’s from nothing to done, all while working with new people, receiving feedback and screening the finished film in front of a live audience.

There was no script, no advance pre-production and no budget.

Everyone had to work within their constraints: using only the actors in their squads, shooting with gear they already owned, keeping locations within walking distance, and of course the biggest constraint – time.

It was an explosion of creativity.

We blasted through stumbling blocks.

We solved problems in a collaborative way.

One of the participants called it an enthusiasm engine.

This was the confidence boost we needed. We knew this was the right direction.

We’ll talk more about this first Filmmakathon experiment in Part 1: Core Values.

Then we wanted to test our next hypothesis: can we make feature films using the Lean Filmmaking method?

For this experiment, we created an Independent Feature Film Accelerator with two squads who developed micro-budget features in fifteen weeks, around day jobs. It was designed for filmmakers who’d already produced short-form content and were looking to take the leap into their first feature films.

We coached the squads through the method, taking high-level concepts through to full-length draft versions of their feature films. Along the way they tackled audience discovery, made concept videos and built momentum for their projects.

We were all astounded at how much was achieved in such a short time.

It was the kick up the backside we needed. The accelerator was both inspiring and, in a more practical sense, essential to making our debut feature film. —Perri Cummings and Paul Anthony Nelson, producers Trench

The accelerator gave us all the optimism of pre-production without the doom and gloom of post-production. —Melanie Rowland, producer Time Apart

We’ll talk more about this Independent Feature Film Accelerator in Part 2: Step by Step Guide.

It’s been so rewarding to use the tough lessons learned from Kylie’s first feature film to create something new and positive. If she hadn’t failed, it’s unlikely we would’ve taken drastic action to completely re-imagine the filmmaking process.

How this book works

The Lean Filmmaking method can be used to make any kind of content, but in this book we specifically focus on independent feature films.

Through our experiments, we’ve also realized that traditional film terminology comes with a lot of baggage. We’ve come up with some new terms that are explained as we go (and there’s a full list of definitions in the glossary).

This book is divided into two parts.

Part 1: Core Values

The philosophy of Lean Filmmaking and how the four core values work together with Make-Show-Adjust Cycles to transform the filmmaking process.

Part 2: Step by Step Guide

A detailed guide to the five-step Lean Filmmaking method, from the idea to the launch of an independent feature film.

This book will work best for those with a solid understanding of filmmaking fundamentals. It doesn’t include information about film basics like how to write, shoot, direct,